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Browse Fact Sheets by development phase: Design


Walkable neighbourhoods

  • Place Making and Social Sustainability
  • Estate Design
  • Access and Transport
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Walkable neighbourhoods have implications for sustainability because developments that are walkable reduce incentives to drive, conserve scarce resources, and lower environmental impacts.

Co-author: Leah Mason

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Public transport infrastructure planning, design, provision

  • Access and Transport
    • Content rating:
    • 2 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Public transport plays an important role in our society although Australia is a car dependent society.  Public transport is far more efficient than cars in transporting large numbers of people and a high percentage of commuters in large cities in Australia travel to work by public transport.  Indeed, about 50% of school trips are performed using public transport in cities such as Sydney and Melbourne.
 

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Innovative transport modes

  • Access and Transport
    • Content rating:
    • 2 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Although conventional road transport is an essential element in any new development, supplementary transport options can be considered to achieve the full potential of planned developments.   

 
 

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Design for a mix of uses

  • Place Making and Social Sustainability
  • Estate Design
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Shops and apartmentsA mix of uses within a neighbourhood enhances the livability and sustainability of a new development.  The incorporation of various non-residential uses, such as retail, business and community facilities, within the residential development, can reduce reliance on private vehicles, provide for local working opportunities and enhance the interaction between residents. 

A variety of housing types associated with mixed use developments (eg. Shop top housing) can also encourage affordability and allow residents the opportunity of progressing through different cycles of life within a single neighborhood, avoiding situations of isolation and gentrification.

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Community Engagement

  • Place Making and Social Sustainability
  • Estate Design
  • Sustainablity Management
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

This fact sheet is designed to help small to medium-sized builders and developers find appropriate ways of engaging with communities about their proposed sustainable developments, while taking into account the complexity of sustainability options. It’s about how to get started, rather than the whole community engagement process with all the detailed planning.

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Cohousing

  • Place Making and Social Sustainability
  • Estate Design
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Cohousing is a major strategic category of the movement back to community known as ‘Intentional Community’. Both the community and the intention are critical to understanding and implementing such projects.

 

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Indigenous Flora and Fauna

  • Site Ecology
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Indigenous flora and fauna needs to be considered/managed as a primary development planning stage, at the beginning of conceptualisation of a development project.

 
 

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Sense of place and community ownership

  • Place Making and Social Sustainability
  • Estate Design
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

This fact sheet examines the issues of sense of place using a case study of various aspects of the Ellenbrook development in Western Australia. This development has won several prestigious awards for its design and community engagement processes and serves as a role model for greenfield development projects in Australia.

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Community integration

  • Place Making and Social Sustainability
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Building socially sustainable developments should be a key goal for the development industry. A socially sustainable society is one that is just, equitable, inclusive and democratic, and provides a decent quality of life for current and future generations.

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Community facilities

  • Place Making and Social Sustainability
    • Content rating:
    • 3 stars
    • Commissioned Content: Commissioned Content

Sustainable development incorporates not just the environmental aspects of sustainability, but also important social dimensions. Community facilities are one element of the social infrastructure that new developments can provide, and as such they can play a key role in contributing to a socially sustainable community.

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